Got this in my spy email from WorldNutDaily, and no, it's not birther related

[ck4829]

How many things seem wrong to you here?

"Prevent your children from leaving the faith this Christmas‏

If you look around in your church today, two-thirds of the young people have already left in their hearts; soon they will be gone for good.

That is the alarming conclusion of the first scientific study of its kind, the Beemer Report, which reveals startling facts discovered through 20,000 phone calls and detailed surveys of a thousand 20-29 year olds who used to attend evangelical churches on a regular basis, but have since left it behind.

In "Already Gone: Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it," popular author Ken Ham and consumer behavior analyst, C. Britt Beemer, combine to reveal trends that must be dealt with now... before we lose another generation.

The study found that we are losing our kids in elementary, middle school, and high school rather than college, and the Sunday school syndrome is contributing to the epidemic, rather than helping alleviate it.

The results are not just surprising; they're shocking:

* Those who faithfully attend Sunday School are more likely to leave the church than those who do not.

* Those who regularly attend Sunday School are more likely to believe that the Bible is less true.

* Those who regularly attend Sunday School are actually more likely to defend that abortion and gay marriage should be legal.

* Those who regularly attend Sunday School are actually more likely to defend premarital sex.

The trends may unnerve you – they may shake long-held assumptions to the core – but "Already Gone" shows how to fight back for our families, our churches and our world.

In the "Already Gone" companion DVD, Ken Ham discusses the profound cultural changes taking place in our Western world, as God's Word is rejected and man's fallible ideas are welcomed. Ken relates some of the shocking statistics presented in the book, and reveals the reasons why young people are leaving church and abandoning the faith of their parents."

Children are leaving the Church?! Quick! Wrangle those free thinking rug rats back up now!!!111!!!!

[Archae]

1. Ken Ham?

And his supercreationist "museum" with dinosaurs sporting saddles? :rofl:

Maybe if Ham and his cohorts changes their calendars from 1009 to 2009, they just may get a clue.

[TheMightyFavog]

5. I thought Ham was in prison for tax evasion.

Or am I thinking another creationist?

[Archae]

9. Yes.

Kent Hovind.

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/11/03/creationist-dr-dino-.html

[MineralMan]

2. That Sunday School Business...

Even children can tell when they're being fed a pile of bullshit. And the more you feed them, the more they hate it, until they just won't eat any more of it.

Jonah and the Freaking Whale? Right. They've already learned about whales in second grade and they know that's impossible.

Two by Two into the Ark? Right. Kids love dinosaurs. How'd he get two T. Rexes in his little boat, huh, Mrs. Goody?

Jesus love the little children? Right? Then how come my uncle, the deacon, is always trying to mess with me?

Feed 'em bullshit, and they'll grow up to hate it.

[HopeHoops]

6. If there were two T.Rexes in the ark for 40 days, they would be the only two left.

Those things could EAT!

[Deep13]

8. How did Noah know to wait for the penguins?

Or kangaroos?
Or the million or so varieties of beetles?

[krkaufman]

23. God Tweeted him that all the animals had arrived. n/t

[brooklynite]

10. I walked out of Sunday School when I was 7...

and that was from probably the most liberal Unitarian Church in New York...

[NYC_SKP]

11. That's how Sunday School worked for me, I was secretly all, "oh bullshit"...

...about the Mythology and all, Trinity, the Holy Ghost...

wtf "Holy Ghost"???

I mean I liked the "be kind to your neighbors" parts, but those were kind of common-sense and obvious.

[MineralMan]

18. Besides, the person teaching them to "be kind to your neighbors"

turned around and said nasty things about the pastor's wife the minute someone else walked into the room. Kids hear everything.

"Did you see that dress Linda wore to morning service? She might as well have stood up and said, 'Look at me! Don't you want some of this?' I just don't know how Pastor Titspervert could have married her. Everyone knows what a slut she was in high school.....Now, children, who wants to hear about the story of Ruth?"

[Ignis]

22. Dinosaurs? You mean Jesus Lizards?

:rofl:

[dmr]

3. Sounds like a money-making scheme

scare tactic scam used to empty the wallets of the gullible.

[MineralMan]

4. Yah, that, too.

I wonder what the secret is? Beat them more often?

[Deep13]

7. So the biggest impediment to Christianity is Christianity.

Can't say I'm surprised.

[sinkingfeeling]

12. So here's the answer as to 'why young people are leaving church'. I should have guessed this.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=100324

"Because of the way in which they've been educated," Ham said, teens come to believe "that what they are taught in school is reality, but the church teaches stories and morality and relationship. Bible teaching is not real in the sense of real history."

[ck4829]

14. His "solution" is probably "Ken Ham's Salvation Tapes, only $19.95 for your children's salvation!"

[fl_dem]

13. I questioned the bible when I was 6

When told Cain was cast into the land of "nod" where he took a wife, I asked where all the other people in "nod" came from, as I thought adam/eve/cain/abel were earths only inhabitants...I was scolded in front of the entire class and made to sit out in the hall, miss snack time and wait it was time to get back on the bus that took me and my siblings back to our alcohol driven domestic violence, abuse, neglect laced home. We were still made to ride that bus every sunday morning, I silently questioned everything they taught cuz those cookies were good!!!!!

[elehhhhna]

17. damnned logic! it'll mess things up evey time.

WELCOME to DU!

[ET Awful]

15. 20,000 phone calls to 1,000 individuals? That averages 20 calls per person

I'd tell them I was becoming a satanist just so they'd leave me the f&*k alone too.

[Echo In Light]

16. "I'm glad more people are finding god and leaving the church." - Lenny Bruce

[surrealAmerican]

19. Well, that's pretty encouraging if their "findings" are ...

... in any way accurate. I don't see that we should trust their numbers, though, as this crowd is not so keen on the scientific method.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

20. Most Sunday Schools are pretty pathetic

If the parents leave everything up to Sunday School, no wonder the kids turn off.

[starroute]

21. The evangelicals have been freaking out about this for a while

What's new here is somebody trying to make a buck off promising to stop it. But a quick google turns up Christian hand-wringing like this;

http://fourpercent.blogspot.com/2008/08/top-10-reason-young-americans-leave.html

According to statistics in Thom Rainer's new book Essential Church?: Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts, 70% of youth will leave church by the time they are 22. (Statistic from pre-release review by Steve Murrell)

According to Barna, 80% will be disengaged by the time they are 29.

We are losing this war. We must develop a new strategy.

Also stories from 2008 about young evangelicals who aren't leaving the church but are leaving the Republican Party:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2004406277_evangvote11m.html

He's a born-again Christian with two family members in the military. He grew up in the Bible Belt, where almost everyone he knew was Republican. But this fall, he's breaking a handful of stereotypes: He plans to vote for Democrat Barack Obama.

"I think a lot of Christians are having trouble getting behind everything the Republicans stand for," said Dudley, 20, a sophomore at Seattle Pacific University.

Dudley's disenchantment with the GOP isn't unique among young, devoutly Christian voters. According to a September 2007 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, 15 percent of white evangelicals between 18 and 29, a group traditionally a shoo-in for the GOP, say they no longer identify with the Republican Party.

Oh, and here's a story from WorldNutDaily last June which seems to be the same stuff as in the OP: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=100324

Seems like his conclusion is that you have to convince young evangelicals that the Bible is really a history book. Yeah, that should do it. :eyes: